Adiaphoron (plural:
adiaphora from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
ἀδιάφορα "indifferent things") was a concept used in
StoicSTOIC was a variant of Forth.It started out at the MIT and Harvard Biomedical Engineering Centre in Boston, and was written in the mid 1970s by Jonathan Sachs...
philosophy to indicate things which were outside of moral law – that is, actions which are neither morally mandated nor morally forbidden.
Adiaphora in Christianity refer to matters not regarded as essential to
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
, but nevertheless as permissible for Christians or allowed in church.
Adiaphoron (plural:
adiaphora from the
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
ἀδιάφορα "indifferent things") was a concept used in
StoicSTOIC was a variant of Forth.It started out at the MIT and Harvard Biomedical Engineering Centre in Boston, and was written in the mid 1970s by Jonathan Sachs...
philosophy to indicate things which were outside of moral law – that is, actions which are neither morally mandated nor morally forbidden.
Adiaphora in Christianity refer to matters not regarded as essential to
faithFaith is the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. The word "faith" can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general....
, but nevertheless as permissible for Christians or allowed in church. What is specifically considered adiaphora depends on the specific theology in view.
Adiaphora in Stoicism
The Stoics distinguished all the objects of human pursuit into three classes.
VirtueVirtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good.Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well-being, and thus good by definition. The opposite of virtue is vice.-Virtues and values:Virtues can be placed into a...
,
wisdomWisdom is knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight. It is an ideal that has been celebrated since antiquity as the application of knowledge needed to live a good life...
,
justiceJustice is the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, fairness, or equity.-Concept of justice:Justice... concerns the proper ordering of things and persons within a society. As a concept it has been subject to philosophical, legal, and theological reflection and...
, temperance, and the like, were denominated good; their opposites were bad. But besides these there were many other objects of pursuit such as
wealthWealth is an abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
,
fameA celebrity is a person who is famously recognized in a society or culture.Generally speaking, a celebrity is someone who gets media attention and most frequently has an extroverted personality. The desire to be notable is implied by some to be a part of Western culture and more specifically the...
, etc. of themselves neither good nor bad. These were thought therefore in ethics to occupy neutral territory, and were denominated
adiaphora. This distinction amounted practically to an exclusion of the
adiaphora from the field of morals.
Adiaphora in Christianity
New Testament examples of adiaphora are often cited from Paul's
First Epistle to the CorinthiansThe First Epistle to the Corinthians, also known as First Corinthians, is the seventh book of the New Testament. The book, originally written in Greek, was a letter from Paul of Tarsus and Sosthenes to the Christians of Corinth, Greece....
. Some of this epistle was written in response to a question from the Corinthian Christians regarding whether it was permissible for a Christian to eat food offered to
idolsIdolatry is usually defined as worship of any cult image, idea, or object, as opposed to the worship of a monotheistic God. It is considered a major sin in the Abrahamic religions whereas in religions where such activity is not considered a sin, the term "idolatry" itself is absent...
. In response, Paul replied:
- ... food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. (1 Corinthians 8:8-9 New International Version
The New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan, in the United States it became one of the most popular modern translations made in the twentieth century.-History:...
)
However, upon study of several other Pauline passages ones sees that Paul is not necessarily saying that there are such things as
adiaphora. Elsewhere he says:
- And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17 NIV
The New International Version is an English translation of the Christian Bible. Published by Zondervan, in the United States it became one of the most popular modern translations made in the twentieth century.-History:...
)
The
adiaphora are morally acceptable or unacceptable by God based upon the motive and end of the doer. In this sense there are no
indifferent things.
The issue of what constituted
adiaphora became a major dispute during the
Protestant ReformationThe Protestant Reformation was a Christian reform movement in Europe which is generally deemed to have begun with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 although a number of precursors such as Jan Hus predate that event...
. In 1548, two years after the death of
Martin LutherMartin Luther changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could...
, the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles VCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556...
tried to unite Catholics and Protestants in his realm with a law called the
Augsburg InterimThe Augsburg Interim was an imperial decree ordered on May 15, 1548, at the Diet of Augsburg, after Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, defeated the forces of the Schmalkaldic League in the Schmalkaldic War, from 1546 to 1547. The document was written by three theologians: Johannes Agricola, Julius von...
. This law was rejected by
Philipp MelanchthonPhilipp Melanchthon was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a influential designer of educational systems...
, on the account that it did not ensure justification by faith as a fundamental doctrine. Later he was persuaded to accept a compromise known as the
Leipzig InterimThe Leipzig Interim was a temporary settlement of 1548 AD in matters of religion, entered into by the Emperor Charles V with the Protestants.The Augsburg Interim of 1548 met with strong opposition. In order to make it less objectionable, a modification was introduced by Melanchthon and other...
, deciding that doctrinal differences not related to justification by faith were
adiaphora or matters of indifference. Melanchthon's compromise was vehemently opposed by Matthias Flacius and his followers in Magdeburg, who went to the opposite extreme by claiming that adiaphora cease to be adiaphora in a case of scandal and confession. By 1576 both extremes were rejected by the majority of
LutheransLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
led by
Martin ChemnitzMartin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation Lutheran theologian, reformer, churchman, and confessor...
and the formulators of the Formula of Concord.
In 1577, the
Formula of ConcordFormula of Concord is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith that, in its two parts , makes up the final section of the Lutheran Corpus Doctrinae or Body of Doctrine, known as the Book of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (Latin: Formula concordiae, "Harmony Concord", also the "Bergic...
was crafted to settle the question of the nature of genuine
adiaphora, which it defined as "church rites which are neither commanded nor forbidden in the
Word of GodThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
." However, the Concord added believers should not yield even in matters of
adiaphora when these are being forced upon them by the "enemies of God's Word".
The Lutheran
Augsburg ConfessionThe Augsburg Confession, also known as the "Augustana" from its Latin name, Confessio Augustana, is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of the Lutheran reformation...
states that
- the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike.
Adiaphora in Puritan worship
The
Westminster Confession of FaithThe Westminster Confession of Faith is a Reformed confession of faith, in the Calvinist theological tradition. Although drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly, largely of the Church of England, it became and remains the 'subordinate standard' of doctrine in the Church of Scotland, and has been...
, a confession of faith written by the
PuritanA Puritan of 16th and 17th-century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and group piety. Puritans felt that the English Reformation had not gone far enough, and that the Church of England was tolerant...
s, distinguishes between the elements or acts of
worship'Worship' is acts, expressions or a state of religious devotion typically directed to one or more deities.Worship is etymologically derived from Old English words meaning "worth-ship". Giving worth to something...
(worship proper) and those things which are the circumstances of worship. The elements of worship must be limited to what has positive warrant in Scripture, a doctrine known as the
regulative principle of worshipThe regulative principle of worship is a 20th century term used for a teaching shared by Calvinists and Anabaptists on how the second commandment and other parts of the Bible orders public worship...
. In this framework, the elements of worship have included to praise (the words and manner of music), prayer, preaching and teaching from the Bible, the taking of vows, and the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, while the circumstances of worship have included the building and its necessary furniture and the time of day for worship.
The circumstances of worship are considered adiaphora, although they must be done for edification and to promote peace and order (compare ; ). According to the
Westminster Confession 20.2, the conscience is left free in general belief and behavior within the realm of whatever is not "contrary to the Word." However, specifically concerning worship and religious faith, the conscience is free from whatever is "besides" Scripture; that is, it is free to worship and believe only according to whatever has positive warrant in Scripture.
Presbyterians who have subscribed to the Westminster Confession, for instance, sometimes considered the questions of musical instruments and of the singing of
hymnA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek , "a song of praise"...
s not drawn directly from the Bible as related to the elements of worship, not optional circumstances, and for this reason they rejected musical instruments and hymns because they believed they were neither commanded by scripture nor deduced by good and necessary consequence from it. Adherence to such a position is rare among modern Presbyterians, however.
The Puritan position on worship is thus in line with the common saying regarding adiaphora: "
In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charityIn necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas is a Latin phrase commonly translated as "unity in necessary things; liberty in doubtful things; charity in all things", or, more literally, "in necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion".It is often...
".
See also
External links